Wednesday, 26 January 2011

What a wonderful adventure we've been on together the last fortnight! In the wake of the devastation and loss of the floods, you have poured out your support for those affected and your support for one another. We have been touched by your generosity, your humour (some of that bidding got a little competitive!) and your creativity.You've each shared in giving something you had a part in making, making something with your hands from scratch, with care and love. These very personal items have helped raise much needed funds and also been received with great gratitude from all those who supported by bidding and buying. You should be so proud of yourselves, from the $10 to the $2000 raised, every contribution is worthwhile and wonderful.Apart from the money raised, just voicing our awareness of the flood victims on our blogs, websites, and in the media, has been a real emotional support to many of those affected. Sometimes, in our greatest trials, it's just nice to know people care. I know this outpouring of love has really lifted hands that hang down and hearts that are sad. In knowing we care, we ease the load, and sometimes, that is the best thing we can do. "We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love"~ Mother Teresa.So, I know we've said it before, but we mean it with full, grateful hearts - Thank you. Thank you for making our little scratchy vision big and marvelous. Thank you for putting up with our sleep-deprived mummy memories when we forgot something. Thank you for your kind emails, you are all women (okay and like two guys!) with big hearts, deep pockets and you know that all we can really give in this life is the gift of ourselves. Now, onto what you're really waiting for and that's our grand total...we're scared you won't believe us - we had to double check our spread sheet 3 times!

We're not kidding!

So here we go. Altogether, you raised

$99,089

for Queensland!! WELL DONE! That is just amazing!! Now get back on your computer chair...don't run off the road if you are reading this on your iPhone. How awesome are you?!!!!(To all of you wonderful Author's for Queensland crew - we thankyou for joining us crafty chicks and sharing our pink umbrella.)So, in return we have a little (tiny) farewell gift for you. It's just a little token of our appreciation:

You can put it on your blog or site to remind you that you were part of something very special. And, if you were a bidding/ticket buying supporter please take one if you want to, because you made this big effort possible too.What a wonderful end to Australia Day this is - just an ordinary group of good, Aussie women doing what good Aussie women have always done, just lending a hand to friends in need (a tech-savvy modern-day CWA cake stall!).Thank you again, and hopefully we'll meet again in blogland, (or maybe even in real life!),Toni and Carli.

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comments:

Thank you so much for coordinating such an amazing fundraiser... actually I think it raised much more than money (and so much money and that!!!). Hope you get a bit of time to relax after so much work!

That's fantastic. Thanks for dealing with all the logistics, promoting it and keeping us all on track (and dealing with a gazillion emails from us all!). Brilliant effort. The new badge is now sitting proudly on my blog : )

Hey Toni, YOU WON over at my place!!!! For some reason my email is not allowing out going emails but I can receive them....confused...I KNOW!!! So pop me back an email with your address and I will post off your fab book!! Oh... I am just back from a BBQ..my total figure was $110. Thank you both for doing such a FAB job...you are just GORGEOUS!!!

OMG, that is totally AMAZING... what a remarkable effort from everyone involved.... we reached just over $20,000 over at our auction with more donations still coming in.... We have been overwhelmed by the amazing support we have had.... I am sure you have worked around the clock like our admin team....but it is so worth it to see what a fantastic amount of money that has been raised...

Absolutely fantastic ladies!!Wooohoo!!Huge thanks for all your hard work and sleepless nights.. wow!So nice to be a part of something this big no matter how small... Love it!What a wonderful thing to share on Australia day... so proud to be an Aussie today xx

Thanks for coordinating the whole thing Toni and Carli. Thank you to all of those who donated items to be auctioned/raffled. Thank you to all who left bids. On Australia Day, I'm proud to be an Aussie, capable of such generosity and compassion.

Hi Toni - my auction is still running as I am overseas and thought I would leave it until then, so I'm $710 and still going up. Also I taught at a shop in Amsterdam yesterday and the shop owner and students gave a portion of the class fee and some donations to the appeal as well,. I will make a donation in their name via my blog, so there's another $200 you can add to the total! wasn't that sweet of them?

Thanks to you and Carli for all your hard work in getting this off the ground and running it all. Thanks to all the amazing crafters and bloggers who held raffles and auctions, and thanks to all those wonderful people who donated and participated. Everyone os awesome!

Congratulations on such a huge huge effort. Well done to everyone who contributed - those who donated and managed their giveaways, those who made bids and those who entered the raffles. What an amazing thing you have done!

well done everyone :) we have been out today, and I hadnt emailed you my total-oops- Kabwares raised $115! I was so rapt- its just one brick that has built a huge foundation when we are all combined!!thankyou Toni Carli and co. for such fabulous co-ordination. cheersjane

What an extraordinary achievement. I bet everyone who organised or contributed in some way will be wearing the biggest grin for days to come. Giving feels good anyway but how good must all of you feel after such an stunning result.

I was reading on my iPhone and actually gasped out loud when I read that toal, and then felt all teary!Congratulations to you, Carli and all your gang who worked so hard for this amazing result Toni.What am incredible community of people, one I feel very proud to be part of.

You are proof positive that wonderful people with true hearts of gold walk amongst us.

For all that you have done to unite the blogging world with those in need, I congratulate and thank you.You are truly a Lustrous Pearl and I thought that you might like to have a read of a post written on this topic here:

Thanks again for organizing everything, Toni! I'm glad I was able to do a little something to help out. I'm sure you had no idea how big this would become when you started it, and you did a fabulous job with it all!